At EnduX, we are excited about the future of humanoid robotics and China's unique positioning within it. In this four-part post, we offer a structured overview of China’s humanoid robotics manufacturers — origins, strengths, investors and partners — profiling both established players and emerging innovators.
Part 1: Why Humanoids, Why Now — And Why China is Leading the Charge
The Global Humanoid Robotics Industry: Size and Growth Potential
There’s no universally accepted definition for what counts as part of the humanoid robotics industry, which makes market sizing a challenge. Industry estimates vary but current numbers suggest the sector is still young and amounting to under $5 billion:
- Grand View Research: $1.55 billion in 2024
- Markets & Markets / GlobeNewswire: ~$2.9 billion in 2025
- Coherent Market Insights: $4.3 billion by end of 2025
Forecasts for the humanoid robotics industry are more bullish over the mid- and long-term, expecting high growth and enormous market potential:
- Goldman Sachs: $38 billion by 2035
- Morgan Stanley: $5 trillion by 2050
The projected growth is driven by the belief that humanoids and embodied AI can address structural issues such as labour shortages and aging populations in essential industries.
China’s Strategic Positioning in Humanoid Robotics: Playing the Long Game
China has laid the groundwork for dominance through long-term strategic policy, STEM education, and a powerful manufacturing base. According to Morgan Stanley’s Humanoids 100 Index, 56% of companies active in the humanoid value chain and 45% of integrators are based in China.
Further, many promising startups and "hidden champions" remain outside of major indexes. For an excellent historical overview, see Grace Chao’s Rise of China's Robotics Industry: from Manufacturing Arms to Embodied AI.
As previously discussed on our blog, China's ecosystem is exceptionally diverse — spanning academic labs, start-ups, consumer electronics firms, and auto manufacturers. This breadth drives innovation in both design and deployment.
Stay tuned for Part 2, where we’ll profile the established leaders in China’s humanoid robotics industry.
Part 2: Titans of Chinese Humanoids — The Established Players
UBTECH Robotics Corp Ltd. （优必选）
- Location: Shenzhen
- Focus: humanoids for education, logistics, wellness, and elderly care; integrated STEM platform supports hands-on learning
- Founded: 2012 by Zhou Jian ("James Zhou"), previously Asia-Pacific Regional Manager at Michael Weinig AG and founder of Youkai Machinery Co., Ltd (manufacturer of industrial automation production lines for building materials)
- Notable for: China's first commercialised biped life-sized humanoid; full-stack capabilities in hardware, software, services, and content; over 2,450 robotic and AI patents (as of June 2024)
- Key Investors and Partners: UBTECH was the first robotics company to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (2023) with market cap of over $4 billion (as of June 2025).
Unitree Robotics (宇树)
- Location: Hangzhou
- Focus: cost-effective humanoid alternatives to products from global leaders like Boston Dynamics; portfolio spans entertainment, research, industrial, and rescue applications
- Founded: 2016 by Wang Xingxing, a mechatronics engineering graduate whose university work included building small quadrupeds; gained extensive tech industry experience at DJI.
- Notable for: affordability, in-house design, and mass-market quadrupeds; excellent marketing and PR events, such as the first humanoid boxing match
- Flagship products: consumer and research quadrupeds (A1, Go1, Go2); industrial-grade B-series quadrupeds, including the waterproof B1 (IP68); wheeled/quadruped hybrids (Go2‑W, B2‑W); next‑gen humanoids (G1, H1)
- Key Investors and Partners: Completed Series-C in June 2025. Backed by numerous corporate and investment institutions including Tencent, Alibaba, Beijing Robotics Industry Development Investment Fund, Shenzhen Capital Group, Meituan, Matrix Partners, Source Code Capital, Sequoia China.
Deep Robotics (云深处)
- Location: Hangzhou
- Focus: quadrupeds and AI-based patrol inspection
- Founded: 2017 by Zhu Qiuguo and Li Chao, Ph.Ds. from Zhejiang University; Zhu worked as an associate professor before co-founding.
- Notable for: successful industrial application of quadrupeds across power stations, factories, and tunnel inspections, emergency rescue, fire detection, scientific research and others
- Flagship Products: X30 and Lynx quadrupeds, designed for practical industrial use cases and work in difficult environments; equipped with various accessories and software
- X30 — 20kg payload, 4h battery, IP67, -20°C to +60°C range
- Lynx — Faster (18km/h), 80cm obstacle heights, 15kg payload, 2.5h battery, IP66
- Key Investors and Partners: Completed Series-C in July 2025 led by CRHC. Investors include Hangzhou District fund, Cybernaut, FG Venture, Oriza VC, Innoangel, etc.. Strategic partners and clients include State Grid Corp. of China, China Southern Power Grid, Bao Steel, etc.
Fourier Intelligence (傅利叶)
- Location: Shanghai
- Focus: rehabilitation robotics; more recently, humanoids
- Founded: 2015 by Gu Jie, graduate from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University; worked at National Instruments in the US and holds dozens of patents in both China and the U.S.
- Notable for: rich portfolio of industry clients, including over 2,000 global hospitals and institutions
- Flagship Products: GR-1 humanoid — first mass-produced robot (launched 2023)
- Key Investors and Partners: Completed three funding rounds since 2024 with backers including Sequoia China, Prosperity7 Ventures, Shanghai State-owned Asset Management, Pudong VC, Zhangjiang VC, etc.
Leju Robotics (乐聚)
- Location: Shenzhen
- Focus: early focus on education robots; more recently humanoids
- Founded: 2016; Co-founders Chang Lin, Leng Xiaoxian, and An Ziwei all originated from the Harbin Institute of Technology Smart Robotics Club (premier student-run innovation and competition hub in China, akin to mini-accelerator).
- Notable for: first humanoid robot based on open-source HarmonyOS (KaihongOS); heavy duty transport robot production base in Sichuan
- Flagship Robot: KUAVO — large-scale general-purpose humanoid; partnered with Haier to debut China’s first household humanoid at AWE Shanghai 2024 aimed explicitly at home-use scenarios (washing and drying clothes, watering plants, arranging flowers, etc).
- Key Investors and Partners: Backed by Tencent Investment, Songhe Capital, Shenzhen Capital Group and others; partnering with automakers NIO and FAW Changchun, and fibre-optic/cable manufacturer Jiangsu Hengtong, on industrial applications.
Hanson Robotics Ltd.
- Location: Hong Kong (although originally started in USA)
- Focus: robots that look realistic and enrich social interactions
- Founded: 2007 by David Hanson, Ph.D., early career focused on designing, sculpting and developing robots for Disney Imagineering Lab, Universal Studios and MTV.
- Notable for: worldwide reputation and multiple awards for creating hyper-realistic robots that act genuinely alive
- Flagship Products:
- Sophia the Robot — the first robot granted citizenship
- Albert HUBO — first expressive walking robot
- BINA48 — interactive AI bust
- Key Investors and Partners: Backed in Disney Accelerator, Hong Kong Science and Technology Park, ACE Ventures and others; joint venture with Awakening Health for healthcare service robots.
Part 3 will profile the latest wave of companies focussed on humanoid development and deployment.
Part 3: China’s Rising Stars — The Emerging Players
Kepler Exploration Robotics (开普勒)
- Location: Shanghai
- Focus: general-purpose humanoid robots for multi-industry deployment
- Founded: 2023 by Founder Yang Hua , who in 2013 founded Chunmi technology, a Xiaomi ecosystem company focusing on smart kitchen appliances; co-founder Hu Debo, KTH alumnus and Huawei veteran.
- Notable for: proprietary cutting edge harmonic drive actuators; advanced planetary roller screw; highly advanced sensors and system – Nebula - that enables the robot to perceive its surroundings in real time; AI capabilities (deep learning, reinforcement learning, LLMs)
- Flagship Products: K2 — powerful, general-purpose humanoid standing 175cm tall, 30 DoF excl. hands 52 DoF incl. hands, impressive 8h battery, 30kg two-arm payload, and a full stack tool chain to accelerate R&D
- Key Investors and Partners: Completed Series-A in June 2025 from industrial investors such as Zhaofeng, Hanwei, Jirfine Intelligent Equipment, Veichi, Keli Sensing. Strategic cooperation agreement with SAIC-GM, Flender, Singapore-based SIMPPLE, etc. to jointly explore innovative applications of humanoid robots in security patrols, property service and industrial manufacturing.
Agibot (智元)
- Location: Shanghai
- Focus: general-purpose humanoids, service and hospitality and industrial deployment
- Founded: 2023 by Peng Zhihui ("稚晖君"), former algorithm engineer at OPPO Research Institute’s AI Lab and ex-Huawei’s “Genius Youth Program”; joined by former Google scholar Luo Jianlan (ex-Google X & ex-Google DeepMind) who was a member of Sergay Levine’s BAIR lab
- Notable for: world’s first open-source dataset with 1M+ real-robot samples; construction of the largest mass production facility in the industry; world’s largest and highest-quality data collection factory for robotics.
- Flagship Products:
- Lingxi / X1 — full-stack open source robot for research & education
- Genie / G1 — general purpose wheeled humanoid for data collection and industrial use
- Yuanzheng / A2 — humanoid designed for customer service and hospitality deployments
- Key Investors and Partners: Completed Series-B in March 2025 led by Tencent. Investors include M31 Capital, iSoftStoneBlueRun Ventures, CAS Star, Sequoia China, BAIC Capital, etc.; Strategic partnerships with multiple companies, including Shanghai Lingang Group, Fulin Precision Machining, iFlytek, for industry deployment pilots.
Galaxea AI (星海图)
- Location: Beijing (HQ), Suzhou (lab)
- Focus: dual‑arm wheeled humanoid system, robotic arms
- Founded: 2023 by Gao Jiyang, Ph.D. University of Southern California & ex-Waymo and ex-Momenta; Zhao Xing, Ph.D. MIT, ex-Waymo, Forbes China's 30 Under 30 in science, Assistant Professor at Tsinghua; Xu Huaizhe, Ph.D. UC Berkeley, postdoctoral research at Stanford, Assistant Professor at Tsinghua and Director of the Embodied Intelligence Lab (TEA Lab), Li Tianwei, Master UCL, ex-Momenta
- Notable for: high-performance electromechanics and toolchains for embodied intelligence; collaboration with Physical Intelligence
- Flagship Products:
- A1 robot arm — lightweight and dynamic force-controlled, payload capacity (rated 2kg, peaking at 5kg), precision and speed (10 m/s, end-effector acceleration of 40 m/s²)
- R1 humanoid — full-size dual A1 arms, mobile chassis with high precision and a wide vertical operating range (up to 2m) suitable for industry applications
- Key Investors and Partners: Completed three Series-A rounds circa $100m in April 2025. Investors include Cathay Capital, Lenovo Capital, Haier Capital, IDG, Hillhouse, Ant Group, Beijing Robotics Industry Development Investment Fund.
Galbot (银河通用)
- Location: Beijing
- Focus: general purpose humanoids and embodied AI for retail and other industries
- Founded: 2023 by Dr. Wang He, Ph. D. Stanford, Assistant Professor at Peking University's Centre for Frontier Computing; Director of the Embodied Large Model Centre at the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence; Yao Tengzhou, ex-ABB's Robotics R&D Centre, both with 10+ years of robotics experience, incl. mass-production
- Notable for: embodied AI — the world's first end-to-end embodied AI large model pre-trained based on billions of simulated data and end-to-end VLA model for retail commercialisation
- Flagship Products: Galbot G1 — full-size general-purpose humanoid with hybrid mobility, 2.4m reach, 10h battery life, capable of operating offline and performing autonomous tasks with unique arm configuration (gripper + suction cup)
- Key Investors and Partners: Completed latest funding round of circa $150m in June 2025 led by CATL and Puquan Capital. Investors include China Development Bank VC, Beijing Robotics Industry Development Investment Fund, Jiyuan Capital Academic partnership and joint laboratory with Peking University (PKU), a research centre with Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence (BAAI) and joint venture with Bosch Group’s Boyuan Capital focused on industrial manufacturing scenarios.
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Engine AI (众擎)
- Location: Shenzhen
- Focus: high-agility humanoids
- Founded: 2023 by Zhao Tongyang, former XPeng robotics founder and serial entrepreneur
- Notable for: fully harmonic force-controlled joints, E2E neural networks, impressive imitation learning and deep reinforcement learning capabilities; the world’s first front-flipping robot and the world’s first natural gait walk
- Flagship products:
- PM01 — teen-sized open-source model
- SE01 — full-size general-purpose model
- SA01 — bipedal robot
- Key Investors and Partners: Completed pre-A round in April 2025 led by Stone Ventures. Investors include Highlight Capital, and Anhui provincial funds.
LimX Dynamics (逐际动力)
- Location: Shenzhen
- Focus: general purpose all-terrain developer-friendly robots
- Founded: 2022 by Founder Zhang Wei, Ph.D. Purdue University, Postdoc Berkeley, tenured professor at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen; Co-founder and CTO Chen Hua, Ph.D. Ohio State University, Co-founder Pang Bo, commercial expert and serial entrepreneur; Co-founder Li Zhang, former Cisco Systems veteran and COO of unmanned driving start-up WeRide
- Notable for: deep expertise in agile bipedal locomotion and stability, multi-modal robot control, reinforcement learning and embodies manipulation
- Flagship Product: TRON 1 — world’s first 3-in-1 bipedal robot
- Key Investors and Partners: Completed Series-A+ in March 2025. Investors include Alibaba, China Merchants VC, SAIC capital, NIO Capital, Lenovo Capital, VitalBridge, etc.
Booster Robotics (加速进化)
- Location: Beijing
- Focus: developer-friendly humanoid robots that support open source development tools
- Founded: 2023 by Cheng Hao, Tsinghua graduate and robotic researcher as part of Tsinghua’s robot soccer team; held a senior leadership role at ByteDance, overseeing large-scale product development teams
- Notable for: robustness and technical strength in difficult movements such as kicking a ball, push-ups, obstacle challenges and Kung Fu; performance in RoboCup soccer competition
- Flagship Product: Booster T1 — robust, open-source, high-spec humanoid that combines navigation, ASR, TTS, motion control, and on-device large model support
- Key Investors and Partners: Completed A-round in June 2025 led by Shenzhen Capital Group. Investors include Jinding Capital, Source Code Capital, Minyin VC, Peiport Holdings, CMBC International, Zhongguancun Science City, iCANX Fund and Innoangel.
Part 4: Where to Buy Chinese Humanoids in Europe
Not all Chinese humanoid robots are available in the European market. EnduX is a distributor and integrator of the following:
- Deep Robotics
- LimX Dynamics
- Booster Robotics
- Agibot
- Kepler
- Galaxea AI
We work directly with manufacturers and can advise on fit, availability, and integration, as well as conduct POC and rollout of humanoids for various use cases in the real world. Get in touch to get a quote of the robot, explore deployment options or discuss your use case.
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